U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH)
 

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Editor of The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

The Cleveland gathering is the first of several job fairs and town hall forums sponsored by the 43-member Congressional Black Caucus. Others are to be held in the cities of Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami. 

“The biggest obstacle to our nation's prosperity right now is the lack of jobs," Fudge said in a press release from communications director Belinda Prinz. "The economic recovery has failed to reach many segments of our community, unemployment stands at 8.8 percent in Cuyahoga County, and the reported rate among African- Americans is a staggering 16.2 percent."

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson is among the public dignitaries scheduled to visit the job fair, which is free and open to the public, as is the town hall meeting, the latter of which is an upcoming venue that is rare, and the largest Cleveland gathering of Black federal legislators since the 2008 memorial of Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Ohio's first Black female congresswoman and its second Black behind retired U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes of Shaker Hts. 

Fudge replaced Tubbs Jones, who died of a brain aneurysm, and went on to win election last year.

The congresswoman said that the job fair is one of several initiatives she has in place to address the debilitating economy that plagues Ohio and her 11th Congressional District, which includes parts of City of Cleveland and its eastern suburbs and is roughly 53 percent Black. 

"By bringing this job fair to Cleveland, I want to give the people of my district the opportunity to get back to work," said Fudge.

The town hall meeting, under the theme "Creating Jobs and Strengthening the Community," comes on the heels of the controversial Budget Control Act of 2011 that President Obama signed into law on Tue. amid opposition from 21 of the 41 Black Caucus members that voted in the House of Representatives on the then bill, including Fudge herself. 

Waters blasted it as a road to disaster and Conyers held a press conference where he scolded Obama and called for a "march on the White House." 

The new law, a Republican pushed compromise with spending cuts that target the poor, the elderly, and the minority communities, authorizes immediate relief from the debt ceiling with a $900 billion increase, relief necessary to circumvent a financial default. The Budget Control Act of 2011 also provides for $900 billion in spending cuts over the upcoming decade, and prescribes expedited procedures for implementing another $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions, among other things. Another significant provision of the controversial law is a new bipartisan super committee of 12 congressional lawmakers whose role will be to find at least $1.2 trillion more in deficit cuts spread over the next decade.

What if any theatrics the Congressional Black Caucus members will bring to the town hall forum on Mon. remains to be seen.

For more information on the job fair at the new convention center and the town hall meeting, to be held in the university's main classroom auditorium at 1899 E 22nd St., call Fudge's congressional office in Warrensville, Oh. at 216-522-4900. 

Journalist and Community Activist Kathy Wray Coleman can be reached at 216-932-3114 and ktcoleman8 [at] aol [dot] com.